The invention relates to a filter device having a housing and at least two rotation bodies arranged in the housing and driven by a shaft. Such filter devices consist typically of stacks of hollow filter plates, which are arranged in an essentially cylindrical filter housing, also in a rotating manner as the case may be. The fluid to be filtered is introduced into the housing and goes through the filter formed in the region of the surface of the filter plates into the inside of the plates, and from there into a central channel, via which the filtered fluid is drawn off. Such filter plates are known, for example, from German published patent application DE 196 24 176 A1 or European patent application publication no. EP 0 723 799 A1, and corresponding filter arrangements are known from DE 196 24 176 A1 as well as U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,512.
Since the filter housing is mostly subjected to the fluid to be filtered from an end-side, the material held back by the filter typically connects at the end of the filter device which is distant to the feed opening. If a tough scum forms here, it may be a problem to remove this from the filter device. Flushing procedures and back-flushing procedures are unfavorable, since they interrupt the continuous filter operation.